Where's my Hat
by Souja O
Summary: Alicia, feeling lonely after the marriages of all her friends, goes off to try to make it big. There's a storm and she's now Lavender. Alvarna is now left in the care of... Ray? Since when was Ray part Demon?
1. Prologue

Prologue: Stupid Hat

_Disclaimer__: Hah, ha! First RF2 fic I'm writing. What's there to say? I don't own the original RF2's original characters ^^._

_Dear Mom:_

_I'm gone. We'll see if I can do something with my life!_

_-Ali_

That's all she had written. Except for a brief description of what she had planned.

Alicia was 'running' away. She was planning on moving to Kardia, the place she'd heard so much about from Cecilia. She felt that she had no place in Alvarna. Not even as a fortune teller. Everyone knew everyone else and didn't need her location readings and there had been a device that Yue got that could predict the weather. She felt useless being the only bachelorette still in that town. Yes, only, as Yue had met someone on one of her trails and everyone had gotten married shortly after Kyle and Mana did.

The buffalo pulled carriage she was on stopped suddenly. "Okay miss," the person who was steering smiled back at Alicia, "From here you just go over to the docks and onto one of the boats. It'll take you to Kardia."

"Thank –you," Alicia smiled warmly at the man. As she got off she added, "Tell your wife I said hi!" The man looked back puzzled.

"I don't have a wife!" he called back.

"You will soon!" Alicia turned her back to him and began walking only to be partially run over by a bunch of children. Her bag spilt open and all its innards gushed forth. Amongst them were a hoe and some other farming tools from Mana and Kyle, some seeds from Douglas, some types of medicine from Ray, an emery flower from Rosalind, two bronze short swords from Tanya as well as a sewing kit and petting glove from Cecilia. She gathered up her stuff quickly and heard a few little laughs. "Go help the witch," said one of the children.

'The Witch' she'd heard that nickname a million times from other cities she went to with her family. Tears unknowingly slid down her cheeks. "Don't call her witch," Alicia brushed the forming tears from her eyes as she took her last remaining objects from the ground. _Darn, where'd it go_, she thought bitterly as she looked for her purple hat. "Here," the same voice from before handed her the hat, "You wouldn't want to lose that in this heat. The voice came from a middle sized young man, about Alicia's age, with weird green –blue hair and red eyes.

"Come on!" the little child pulled on his leg to move.

"Well, bye!" he waved as he was being pulled by the child. Alicia watched them go on their way before running to catch her boat.

"You just made it ma'am," a plump man in a blue uniform ushered her in. Once on she pulled off her hat and looked at her assigned room. It was a pinkish purple. Just to her liking. She still had four days till she reached her destination. She might as well laze about. Once she got there she'd do nothing more than hard work.

"And of course have some fun," she added to herself. She looked through her stuff. She doubted she would ever use the pet glove or the short swords but it didn't matter. She could use the hoe and farming tools to farm as a hobby or something after she'd finished work. She packed up quickly, put on her new purple- red cloak and went on the deck to eat.

Two days into the trip Alicia had almost succumbed to the feeling of home sickness. The only thing driving her on was to feel accomplished. "Once I get there…," Alicia whispered to her while hugging her knees, "I'll write a letter to mom," she smiled sadly, "But for now, I need some fresh air."

She wasn't sure what had possessed her to bring her bag along but she did. The Island was clear in view but there was an unsettling mist coming about.

"Don't worry miss. We'll be there on time. Just be careful on the rails. The boat may turn a bit and we don't want any lost passengers," the plump usher smiled and walked away.

Alicia looked at the sun, she remembered Rosalind _"I make it a habit to bathe in the sun rays. You should try it Alicia!"_ Was she ever right. It was calming and the sun warmed up every part of her body. In a few minutes the fog reached the boat. Everyone cleared into the main part of the boat. The wind picked up suddenly and pulled away Alicia's hat.

"My hat!" she cried as she ran after it. Within minutes she had it in her grasp. "Got ya," she was unaware that she was near a rail that had broken. The boat jerked suddenly causing her to slip on a puddle of water that had been made by one of the waves and bang her head against the boards. A bigger wave came up and crashed on the boat, it quickly receded, taking Alicia with it.

"Miss!" was all she heard before the water covered her. She saw her friends flash before her eyes. The good times. She saw her family too. All the things they had done together. _"Bye, Bye,"_ she thought as she waved at the images that seemed to float as she sank.

Cecilia paced rapidly outside the inn. The time it was taking was starting to wear on her.

"Ceci," she turned to see her husband Jake looking at her with a disapproving glint in his eyes, "You know you're pregnant, you should be inside resting." Cecilia put a hand on her stomach.

"I'm sorry Jake. Alicia was supposed to have arrived two days ago and Egan sent someone to give us word as soon as she reached."

"Ah," Jake sighed, "Your _human_ friend."

Mana burst into the room, behind her Cecilia could hear a mixture of Kyle and Douglas's voices telling her to slow down because she was pregnant. "Ceci," her face was tinted red, "Come quick, the news. Came."

After assembling in the Cherry Blossom Square with the rest of the town folk Cecilia waited on the word from Egner, the man they had asked to watch out for Alicia on her trip. In the distance a figure hobbled up towards them. In his hands was a purple witch's hat.

"I'm sorry," was all he could say. "So very sorry…"

The funeral was short. Gordon preached and everyone wore black. It was a sad sight. Natalie hadn't even known she was going away. She'd thought she was with Yue. Later that same night Cecilia trudged up to the inn. She saw Egan sitting down looking at the moon. Jake looked at his father then back at Cecilia. He nodded at his father and kissed Cecilia bye before walking off towards the bath.

"Ceci, I have something to tell you," Cecilia looked upwards. Egan was smiling, not a full smile but enough to make her wonder why.

**---**

_And 'tis the end of the first chapter of the first RF2 story I've written. This is in memory of my DS. ='(_

_Hope you liked it ^^. _

_And yes, this is AU. Because one, Alicia doesn't ever leave Alvarna, two, I doubt Natalie wouldn't know where she was gone to or notice that they were giving her stuff as she left and three I doubt Yue would ever have an actual Boyfriend. ^^._

_Also I may need help with OC's. Thankies!_


	2. Chapter 1: My Name is

Chapter 1: My Name is…

_Disclaimer__: I don't own the RF2 original characters. Just the ones I made up._

**---**

_Ceci, I have something to tell you…_

---

"About Alicia," Egan's smile thinned a bit but was still present, "She might not be…,"

Cecilia looked at Egan. Her eyes had a hopeful glint in them.

"She might not be-," Cecilia couldn't make out the last word because of a random gust of wind that seemed only to blow between them.

Egan tried repeating but Ceci could still not make out his words. Finally he took a deep breath, "ALICIA MAY NOT BE-," as if this angered the wind Egan was thrown against the doors of the inn, knocking the wind out of him.

"JAKE!" Cecilia cried out, the wind motioned towards Ceci and drew closer. "JAKE!" she cried again. The 'wind' molded into the shape of a claw- a sharp one at that- and began glowering.

"Get away from my wife!" A dagger plunged deep into the monsters arm, claw, thing. It hissed in pain and at the sight of more of the townsfolk coming, dispersed. Jake growled and turned his attention back to a feeble looking Cecilia. "It's okay Ceci…"

"Jake," she sniffled into his arm. Her eyes widened, "Egan!" she gasped suddenly.

Douglas and Gordon had managed to carry Egan out of the inn between the two of them, "He sure is heavier then the last time," Douglas joked.

"No Friend, you're just weaker. I feel no change in his weight," Gordon laughed back. After minor amounts of poking between the two they got him to Natalie's clinic. Luckily she had seen them from a mile (is there even that much in that town?) away and had gotten everything ready.

Natalie worked on Egan whilst Jake tried his hardest to comfort the torn up Cecilia. This worked to an extent but it was enough to stop her whimpering. "Ceci…. What happened?" Cecilia looked up at Jake with her eyes brimmed with tears.

"Egan… Egan was about to tell me about Alicia," she sniffled a little bit, "but there was… this wind... It kept on coming, every time he would try to tell me it came," she took a deep breath and continued, "And then it hit him against the inn… Th… then… It came after me!"

Natalie came into the room, face pale and eyes wide. "Cecilia," she called, inching towards her, "Did you say 'a wind'?" she inched closer and placed her hands on Cecilia's shoulders, "W- Was it a sudden wind? Did it become red?"

"Mother," Ray cut in, placing his hand on his mothers shoulder. Natalie's eyes went round, and then turned normal size. She took hold of her sons' hand.

"Yes…," She turned to Cecilia, "I'm sorry Ceci," She looked away sadly, "I really am…"

Meanwhile in a small forest near a house shaped like a mushroom.

"GRANDMA!" an aggravated voice cried out, "GRANDMAA!" Dark curls lollygagged in front of her face, the effort of ponytails obviously not working. She took one more large breath,"GRAND-," she began, only for a hand to be cupped over her mouth.

"What is it?" the old woman replied while twisting her grey hair. "In fact. What do you want me to say 'no' to this time?" she asked sarcastically.

"Grandmamma," she began while batting her lashes (making her grandmother roll her eyes), "Could we please," her grandmother put up her hand.

"No," she said simply.

"But I-," this time a finger went to her nose.

"No," the girls' eyes dropped and her lips pouted, "I've known you long enough. That doesn't work on me." She looked up this time. "I am however. Not immune to begging." She peered through her glasses, "Tell you what. If you can take care of all the animals AND you get me sixty grasses, you can go to town."

"BUT GRANDMAA!" she wailed in despair.

"Those are the terms." The grandmothers' smirk grew, "Of course, you could just wait till Friday…," she suggested, hoping that her distraught granddaughter would forget they were supposed to go the next day.

"No! I understand," she watched the old woman walk up the stairs while chuckling to herself; "I'll show you grandma!"

What felt like hours later the same girl was walking through the woods surrounding her house, _GRANDMA! I can't believe you! You knew I went grass-picking yesterday! This sucks! By the time I have enough it'll be curfew!_

She fumbled around and picked up a beautiful moon drop flower beside an indigo grass (going with the Harvest moon Crops for a bit). She breathed in its scent and smiled happily. "Aura and I are gonna have so much fun!" she yelped cheerfully. Then she remembered she only had twenty grasses. "Forty left," she jeered unhappily.

What happened next could be classified as a fortunate accident (for her grandmother) or an unfortunate blessing (for her), for as she walked onwards, near the edge of the hill where it got incredibly steep, she tripped and went tumbling down.

She looked up to see the face of a girl about her age with pink hair and eyes that matched her Grandmothers blue pea soup *, standing in front of her with an outstretched arm. The darkened cloak she was wearing covered her but still through it she looked incredibly cold. Only when the girl stood up fully did she notice this stranger was sopping wet.

"Hello," The mystery girl said questioningly, "Who are you?" she asked directly.

"Um. Hello. My name is Ava," she said cautiously, "What's your name?"

"Well," the girl said quietly, "I don't really know exactly… But I think it might be Alicia… or Lavender. I can't remember," she answered unsurely, and then quickly added, "I also think I might like selling things."

"Okay… So, do you live nearby?" Ava asked the peculiar girl.

"Well, no. Y'see, I only woke up a few hours ago and I've been wondering around since." Alicia looked at Ava, "Do you live nearby?"

Ava's mouth dropped, "YOU JUST WOKE UP ON THE BEACH?" she yelled more than asked, "No wonder you're so wet!" She started to walk away, making Alicia feel a pang of loneliness. "Well don't just stand there! Come with me!" Alicia smiled and caught up to Ava quickly.

"So where did you used to live?" Ava asked curiously, slowing down at the same time.

Alicia turned to Ava and smiled sadly, "I honestly don't remember," she said simply. There was a light breeze and Ava linked arms with Alicia.

"Doesn't matter," the smile previously on her face widened, "You're sticking with me now."

As they walked they didn't notice the trail of light that shone above them. They didn't notice the way the leaves rustled though there was no wind. And they definitely didn't notice that once they reached the base of the hill, and the light shone brightest, there were a set of shimmering wings on Alicia's back.

---

_And so ends the first actual chapter. ^^. _

_*Oh yeah about the blue pea soup thing… Well, the sea is cliché, the ocean… well… she's (meaning Ava) never been there and so I believe that her eyes most resembled blue pea soup (So it's sea green ^^). _

Note: No elves, humans, or half elves were harmed (emotionally or physically) in the making of this chapter.


	3. Chapter 2: Getting to Know Some of You

Chapter 2: Getting to Know

_Disclaimer__: I own what I own Natsume owns what it owns and everyone else owns what they own ^^_

_Hailey belongs to __Ninny-na_.

---

_You're Sticking with me now…_

---

"Well," Natalie sighed while finishing Cecilia's check- up, "You'll be fine. I think you just need a little rest." She was about to turn around until Cecilia called out.

"What about Egan?" Natalie bit her lip (a bad habit for the Doctor). Jake looked at the human.

"What about Father," he asked in a harsher tone than Cecilia.

Natalie had tears in her eyes and refused to look up, "he might not make it if we leave him here…" she took a deep breath before continuing, "We have to send him to the Capital for treatment." What made Natalie feel worse was when Cecilia burst out into tears. "I'm Sorry!" Natalie cried before running up the stairs with Gordon and Douglas trailing behind her.

When they got to her room they found Natalie sitting cross-legged in her bed twirling around something in a scarlet box. "Nat," Douglas began quietly.

"It's my fault," she said quietly, "I should have just let her go," she sobbed.

Gordon sighed, "We've had this talk before," he put a hand on her shoulder, "It was our fault from the beginning, we shouldn't have been so rude to him."

"Or called him all those mean names," Douglas blurted. Both Natalie and Gordon stared at him, "I'm sorry."

Natalie sighed, "But it's more my fault," she sadly smiled but her eyes widened in terror, "What if… What if he made Alicia drown? What if it was all for revenge?" Douglas shook his head.

"Nope, he woulda taken Ray if that was the case," Gordon face palmed himself as Natalie looked down. Seeing what he did wrong, Douglas started to apologize "I'm sorry Nat, I just…" but his voice died down in her head.

_Have I really been favoring Ray all these years? _She thought back to every time she and Alicia fought and how Ray would come and help break it up. Or how she always helped Ray with doctor things,_ Did he take her because he thought she was better dead than with me?_

_

* * *

  
_

And Meanwhile With Psycho Ava chick

"GRANDMA! I'M BACK!" Ava cried out loudly. She heard her grandmother cuss silently under her breath.

"And has my noisy Granddaughter done what I asked?" Her granddaughter logged off her backpack and smirked. There were three large milks, six large eggs, three honeys, four large wools but only fifty nine grasses. "You still need one grass," Ava's grandmother said happily.

Ava smiled as the girl she had met on the beach walked in with a gold grass *. It shimmered so brightly that it was hard on the older woman's eyes. "How's that for sixty?" Ava asked snidely, receiving a glare from her grandmother.

"You can keep that one," the girl who had brought it in put it neatly into her bag. Ava's grandmother walked over to her, "And what is your name?"

The pink haired girl smiled, "I think it's either Alicia or Lavender," she looked up, "but you can pick."

Ava's grandmother lolled over it "Lavender….," she murmured approvingly, "Yes, Lavender is perfect." She turned to her granddaughter, "What do you think Ava?"

"Yup!" she perked happily, "Lavender's perfect!" Ava smirked happily, " And since Lave' here is new, we would have to go into town to get her settled right?"

Ava's grandmother looked up, "Of course," after ten seconds she figured what she had said but Ava and the newly named Lavender were already out of the house.

---

Within seconds they had reached the crossing of the dungeons*. Lavender stopped and looked around. "Where is this place?" she asked, feeling a little bit weird.

Ava turned around and looked at her new found friend, "Well Y'see," she pointed at one side of the path, it was green and blossoming, the part they had come from, "Grandma and I live in Beluum Hills," she pointed to the right side of the path, this one was sunny and bright, "Right there is the Nova Beaches ," she pointed to the left, where it was orange but to her looked beautiful, "And there's Feluum Forest." She smiled broadly , "But there's also the…" she was stopped by a random outburst of 'getting to know you'.

Coming from one of the trees was a girl with long brown hair and glisten emerald eyes, "getting to-," she stopped when she saw them, "HI AVA!" she called happily, "Hi Ava's friend whom I've never met before!"

"Hi Hailey!" Ava called to her friend, "How's y'been?" she chirped happily, "Isn't Brent gonna be mad about you not working?"

"Good," she huffed and scowled slightly, "he needs to take some time off work," she turned to face Alicia( I mean 'Lavender') "Who's this?"

Ava beamed, "This is Lavender," Hailey's face dropped.

"You've replaced me?" she said sadly, her eyes drooping, "fine! Be that way!"

Ava giggled at her melodramatic friend, "Nope! But I do have a question…," Hailey's eyes once again shimmered.

"Do you think that Lavender could have the other house?" Hailey looked up again.

"There's only one other house that I know of…," her brows furrowed, "I don't think that…," she looked around sheepishly, "You know what happens to people who go to that house. You remember him right? I don't think we should try it. _He_ only lets certain people come to the town at all."

"And he let her come to the town, didn't he?" Meanwhile, Lavender had a very WTF face on, "Why don't we try? Just this once?" Hailey's lip quivered again.

"Fine." She said in defeat.

---

After many minutes of walking they finally reached the other end of town. It was dark and gloomy and there was a sudden cold chill. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" Ava asked Hailey.

Hailey looked at Ava with a hilarious WTF face, "Your plan," she said simply.

Lavender took her steps slowly, cautious of her whereabouts, though the place seemed all too familiar for someone who'd lost her memory. She reached out her hand for a reason unknown to her.

Also unknown to her was the fact that there was an invisible force around the place. And unknown to her friends as they called out 'Lavender' and rushed to her aid, was that if a human had tried that,

they would have died.

* * *

_So ends Chappie two ^^. I hope I got Hailey alright, Right now to me she seems too worried. Is that okay? I'll also be introducing who 'he' is next chappie._

_Also, call her Lavender, Call her Alicia, whatever floats your boat._

_*I'm pretty sure there is no thing as a gold grass in the games (yes, there will be OF (original fruits)). _

Note: No Doctors, Elves, Non-Humans, Half Elves, Or nameless girls were harmed in the writing of this chapter.


	4. Chapter 3: Wake Up

Chapter 3: Alternate Reality

_Disclaimer__: *Ring Ring* Hello…? What? I don't own any real RF people? That sucks!_

_Hailey belongs to __Ninny-na_

---

_He woulda taken Ray if that was the case…_

---

_Lavender… _a male voice drifted into her head, _honey, it's time to wake up… Lavender… Lavender… _

Her head jotted up, making contact with another. "OW!" The other head yelled. Lavender moved her hand from her own head and opened her eyes. On the end of her bed was a boy that looked as a bit older than her. His skin looked blue. His eyes looked emerald and his hair was a messy deep sapphire.

"I'm sorry!" Lavender cried looking at him sincerely.

"Ith othay," he said quickly causing Lavender to laugh. "What? I bit my tongue!" Lavender howled with laughter. "Glad to see you're better." The boy brushed his bangs out of his eyes, "'Name's Roy." He smiled with his eyes, "I'm a water nymph." His smile went a bit smaller, "Well, only half."

Lavenders eyes widened, she couldn't believe it, "Wow! That's so cool!" The nymph's skin went a bit green.

"Thanks," he looked down, "That's a complement coming from a fairy…," his skin went even greener.

"But I'm not a fairy?" Lavender said with her face cocking to one side. Suddenly Roy's cheeks went purple. He glared at her angrily.

"I hate it when people lie about who they are." He said before stomping out. Another person walked in, looking much like Roy did, except her hair was tied in a mess bun and she looked at least ten years older. She looked at the confused Lavender.

"I'm sorry about Roy." She sighed, "Um… By the way I'm Naomi, Roy's older sister." She smiled gently, "From what Ava and Hailey have told me, you're Lavender."

"Can I go talk to them?" Lavender said worriedly.

"Uh-," but before she could finish her sentence Lavender had pounced out of the bed and was outside. Luckily for Lavender, there was a building right next to the clinic that had the word Forge written on it in Cursive. Following her instinct she walked in.

"HAILEY!"

* * *

Meanwhile…

Natalie had fallen asleep. She still murmured in her sleep though. Ray crept closer to his mother. He felt bad for doing this but he continued his mission.

"Mother…," he whispered quietly. She murmured in reply. It still amazed him that although she'd been dead for a week, Alicia could still have this affect on their mother. "Mother… Do you know him?" For some reason, while she was asleep she knew what he was talking about. She opened her eyes and nodded. He'd done this before; he knew she wasn't really awake.

"Who is he," Ray looked at his mother, in this state she looked much younger, and she seemed to glow.

Natalie smiled at her son, "Don't you know your Father?" Ray stared at his mother in disbelief; there was no possible way that the beast was his father. "Remember, he comes over and trains Alicia." Her smile only grew and her eyes only shimmered more. "He was always trying to get Alicia and Max together. I guess he doesn't need to anymore," Ray sighed, hoping that his mother was finally coming to his senses.

"Yes, that's right, Max married Julia," he said hesitantly. Natalie's eyebrows furrowed.

"No he didn't. He married Alicia!" Ray never felt so confused in his life, that feeling only increased when there was a bright light, "See, there's Heather, their three month old daughter," Natalie pointed behind Ray. He turned around and saw that the whole scenery had changed. They were no longer in his mothers' room, instead they were in Cherry Blossom Square and it looked like the Flower Festival. *

His eyes stretched more than he thought possible when he saw, sitted on a bench, Max, Alicia and a small blonde headed child who was crawling after a butterfly. Max… Max looked as always, except, his hand was around Alicia's stomach. And Alicia, Ray couldn't believe it, her stomach larger than he'd ever seen it. She was wearing a simple purple dress that had covered the bump and hid her bosom and a parasol that she held over both their heads. The blonde headed child was dressed in a beautiful green gown and her hair was tied in two neat pony tails. She looked up at Ray and smiled, she had the sea green eyes of his sister. She lifted two pudgy arms to him and giggled. Ray couldn't help but to pick her up.

In his arms she felt so warm. She kissed him lightly on his cheek and wrapped her arms around his neck, snuggling in to sleep. He wrapped his arms tighter around her _"Heather… I remember… How could I have-,"_ he stopped himself in his thoughts. How could he remember something that had never happened?

"This isn't true…," he sighed to himself, "Max married Julia. I was there. Alicia said that they were going to have a girl. Julia's pregnant!" Ray saw his mother behind him; she still looked like she was glowing.

"Yes, Julia is pregnant but not with Max," she said cheerfully. Just as she said that Julia walked with a man he'd never seen before, "She married Mais!*" the man had blonde hair and blue eyes. He had one bang that looked sort of like a sideways hook. "And it's too early to tell what it'll be."

Ray stumbled back a bit, almost tripping. Natalie smiled at him and handed Heather back to Alicia. "Oh look!" she said happily, "Your Father's here!" Ray turned around to see a grey cloud drifting towards them. On top of it was an older man who looked just like him, except he was more muscular, had a trim beard, and was wearing different clothing than him. Behind him was Rosalind with a smile on her face.

"Son, I had a great time getting to know my daughter in Law better. You have good taste." He said happily with his hands on his shoulders, "I want you to come with me."

Ray felt bubbly on the inside _"Of course I will Father. I love you,"_ those were the words Ray was going to say if it wasn't for Heather's butterfly flying across his line of vision. As it moved out of the corner of his eye, something weird happened.

* * *

On 'Lavender's' side

Lavender rushed to Hailey's side and blurted out the words "I'm sorry it wasn't Hailey's fault I made her do it I'm sorry" to whoever would listen. She finally looked up at who she was talking to and gasped.

He was blue, furry, his teeth were bared and his eyes looked bloodshot and yellow.

"So you must be Lavender," he said softly, surprising her. "My name's Trent," he stuck out his gloved paw, "I run the Blacksmith in this town and here's my nephew…," he looked around the store, knocking some things over with his tail, "Brent!" He howled as something dropped onto his head.

From down the stairs cascaded a young man with the same yellow eyes as Trent. He looked primarily human except for his black tail, sharp teeth and pointed wolf ears. He too wore gloves but his had no fingers and showed his black finger nails. Hailey looked up at him but he turned away after scowling at her.

"I don't have time for this," he said after glancing at Lavender. He jumped off the side of the banister and walking out the door. Trent shook his head sadly.

"Well, If you ever need something fixed, you know where to find me," he said as he went further into the store. Just as he did someone else walked into the building. A plump old woman with a distressed look on her face.

"What am I to do?" she sighed while hobbling (did I say 'plump' nooo, she. Was. MASSIVE. I mean, large.)" I need someone to take over the general store!" she turned to Lavender and smiled, "Hello there! I'm Mayor Sully!" she said excitedly. "Would you like to take over our towns' general store?" she said directly.

"What? Me? But..," the mayor looked saddened.

"It's okay, I understand. There's too much responsibility…," Lavender looked at the kindly old lady.

"It's okay, I'll do it." She said finally. The Mayor's eyes once again lit up.

"Great!" she shook Lavenders hand happily, "The general store is at the other side of town. There's a house you can live in, I'm pretty sure no-one lives there right now. It's on a farm and there's a field and Barn. I hope you have the tools but if not I'll have Trent make you some."

Lavender felt really confused until the Mayor added, "It's only until we get big enough to get another general store owner, but even then you can still run it if you want." That made her EXTREMELY confused. "And you can pick your own hours," she added cheerfully.

"By the way…," she uttered, "I never got your name."

"Lavender or-," The Mayor smiled.

"Lavender it is. We'll have a big party for you Lavender. This evening at 6'pm. Toodles!" She turned around and walked out the door and only then did Lavender notice that she had two fox tails under her dress.

Trent laughed heartily, "I guess you just got conned by Mayor Sully… the Kitsune.*" He continued with his work as both Hailey and Lavender exited the building.

Lavender turned while talking to Hailey. She bumped into someone else and looked at the person remorsefully, she'd scattered all his art supplies everywhere. "I'm sorry!"

"Don't be," the voice replied, it sounded very familiar, "Hey…," It added, "Where's your hat?"

* * *

Meanwhile

Ray was running for his life away from the beast. After the butterfly had passed everything had turned dark and stormy and his 'Father' had turned into the cloud beast.

He continued further away from the beast but could hear it faintly say "Please son… Come Back…"

Rays' head jotted up and he found that he was still in his own bed but he was covered in a cold sweat. Rosalind walked up and looked at him sympathetically, "Don't worry," she said softly.

Smiling back, Ray rested his head, once again, on his Downy pillow, and went to sleep.

* * *

_Well, here's to chappie 3! ^^ Love u guys! Ha-ha, changed my mind, only showed a little bit of whom he is… he's not a monster!_

_*1, this is weird 'cuz right now they're in winter there (been 'round a week AA)_

_*2, Mais is the name of the protagonist for RF3 (I don't own it, I just look around for updates about it) I think it's actually Mice or something._

_*3, Kitsunes are supposed to be tricksters ^^_

Note: No humans, Werewolves, 'I'm not a fairy's', or evil pulsing clouds were harmed in the writing of this chappie. Nope, just a writer with a sore back…


	5. Chapter 4: For My Lavender

Chapter 4: For my Lavender

_Disclaimer__: I DON'T OWN STUFFS!_

---

_Please son… Come back…_

---

Ray woke up with a determined look on his face. He needed knowledge, he craved it. He needed to know more about his sister, and even more about that monster that called him 'son'. He sought out a strategic plan to do so. He looked at some of the old photo albums his mother had.

_Maybe I should start with the elders…_ he stopped himself, _No, I'll do that later_. The three oldest villagers had been Alicia, Max and Barrett. _Max!_

He ran outside in search of his long-time friend, only to find him walking outside the clinic, "Max," he yelled for almost no reason. Max almost glared but his expression softened.

"Was there any need to yell?"

"Max… I… I need to talk to you," Ray stammered uneasily.

Max looked at his friend strangely, "Then talk away," he said, much to Ray's surprise,_ I didn't get this far, I'd hoped he'd say he was busy._ But Ray had known better than to think such an OOC thought like that.

"Um... Well," he took a deep breath,_ Why is this so hard?_ He almost yelled to himself, "It's about… Alicia," Ray looked up and saw that his friends face had almost completely fallen.

"Let's talk at the docks."

* * *

Lavender smiled contently. The man she'd bumped into earlier name was Torin, he was a full human and a painter and librarian. She remembered the whole conversation.

"_Hey, Where's your hat?" the man had asked._

"_My hat…?" she'd replied unsurely._

"_Yeah, the big purple one that looked like a witch's hat." For some reason this had offended her._

"_Well, I don't know. And I don't think someone I just met should call my hat a witch's hat. That's rude." The man looked at her oddly. _

"_Sure whatever," He looked at Hailey who was now sitting down with popcorn in her hands, "Hails, aren't you supposed to be at work?" he'd asked. Hailey had jumped up stuck her tongue out and stalked away. When she'd gone out of sight he'd turned back to Lavender "Well, today's the Frost Banquet," she'd smiled happily._

"_If you don't have anyone to sit with, you can sit with my brother and I," he offered, "Well, Bye!" he'd waved at her before walking away._

"_OOOhhh, so you're trying to take my Tor-kun away from me?" A girl with silver hair tied back in a ponytail had yelled while glaring at her with fierce orange eyes, "Well, you can't have him! Not as long as my name is Nadia the tree nymph!" she had stuck her tongue out and ran away, leaving a sheet of paper behind with a stick figure on it and some words._

"The people in this town are so… odd," she concurred aloud. So far there was Ava (the slightly eccentric but really cheery girl she'd met once she woke up), Hailey (the girl who, so far, had been completely honest with her emotions), Grandma (Ava's snide commenting Grandmother), Roy (the water nymph who apparently liked honesty), Naomi (Roy's older sister, and the doctor at the hospital), Trent (the clumsy blacksmith), Brent (Trent's nephew and apprentice), Mayor Sully (who apparently was a trickster at times), Torin (the artist ) and Nadia (the obsessed tree nymph).

She came to a house near the outskirts of town; she'd already gone to the general store earlier on and checked it out. In the back of the house was a large field and in the front was a broken down barn and a storehouse. As she walked back to the field there was a strange warping sound.

"What the-?" In front of her was a pig faced creature with a mace. She growled at it almost by instinct and brought out two short swords from her backpack. It lunged at her, cutting a gash into the clothes she was already wearing. She used the two swords and lunged at the creature. It glowed and disappeared from sight.

"Wow! You're so AWESOME!" she heard the voice of a small boy call, "I was SURE it would've beaten you!" she felt a pair of small hands wrap around her, "You're my HERO!" she looked down to see a child, about six years old, with light blonde hair.

"Cobi? What are you doing here?" she heard an older voice call out.

The child looked panicked, "Oh no! Cherry! Bye, bye!" He yelled as he ran through the forest around the field. A girl ran after him but sopped after he went out of sight.

"That boy…," she murmured, "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't see you there!" she bowed quickly, "My name is Cherub and Cobi is my little brother," she looked at Lavender harder, " I come around here sometimes to clean up. I also take care of the shipping." Her eyes lit up, "And I left some clothes in the house for you, if that's okay." Not waiting for a response, she ran away.

"These people are REALLY weird," she said out loud to no one in particular. Suddenly cherub returned with a book in her hands.

"This is a journal, there's one inside the house too but this one you can write important things that you need to remember in," she then ran off with a trail of dust behind her.

* * *

Ray walked down to the port to see Max waiting for him at the end of the dock. The blonde looked at his friend and smiled warmly. "Hello Ray." He greeted," What did you want to know?"

Ray seated himself next to his friend, "Alicia, I just want to know more about her." Max looked out into the sea. "I had a dream," Ray started, feeling foolish, "There was a man, he looked like me. He said he was my Father," Ray shifted uncomfortably, "I was married to Rosalind and you were-," he felt a blush creep up his face.

"What was I?" Max asked, obviously intrigued.

"You…," Ray could barely say it, "You were married to her." Ray expected to see him laugh in disbelief, or at least to be surprised. Instead he looked greatly saddened.

"Tell me more," he said sullenly.

Ray began, feeling completely startled, "We… Well. You two were sitting on the benches and Alicia had a parasol and new clothes," Max nodded and smirked.

"She wasn't wearing her fortune teller outfit?" he asked amused.

"No… she was wearing a simple purple dress," Max chuckled happily, that is, until Ray added silently, "You had a daughter and she was pregnant," Max was eerily silenced. "But it was just a dream! Right?"

Max looked at Ray with tear brimmed eyes, "That was a dream…" he choked out," My dream."

* * *

Lavender walked into the average sized house. It had two stories and was made primarily of wood, with the exception of the chest and fire place. Upstairs there were two rooms. One with a single bed and another with a double bed (which, in fact, was two beds pushed together). There was a chest just outside of the rooms. She opened it to find a coat and two pairs of clothes.

"Yo Lave'!" she heard a voice call. She ran to downstairs to find Hailey and Ava, "We've got to go."

"You're not going like that are you?" Ava asked in an un-approving tone. Lavender looked down at her clothes, they were minimally ripped and a little battered but it wasn't too bad. Her hair had been partially smoothed out but still jotted out in all directions.

"What's so wrong with this?" Lavender asked with her lips pouting. She then remembered the clothes upstairs. "I'll be right back."

In no time at all, lavender had come down wearing a cloth that hugged around her chest and flowed down past her stomach (the equivalent of a nowadays strapless baby doll shirt) with a baggy pair of pants that went to mid-calf. The shirt being purple and the pants a light brown. To top it off, she was wearing the coat that she had seen earlier.

"That's better," Ava sighed happily. Hailey shrugged and walked towards the door.

"Let's boot," she said simply as she walked away. Lavender followed but saw a small silver locket on a table near the door. She picked it up and saw that it had gold writing on it.

"For my Lavender…," she murmured quietly, "I wonder who lost it?"

"LAVENDER! GET YOUR BUTT OUT HERE!" she heard a voice (which she thought to be Ava) screech. Dropping the locket into one of her pockets she ran out after her friends.

_Chappie 4._

_Okay I promise to make the chapters longer without such stupid endings (see above). I'll also try to make them more interesting. (Jumps off cliff) I PPRROOMMIISSEE!!!_


	6. Chapter 5: My Lovely

Chapter 5: My Lovely

_Disclaimer__: I wish not to own any real characters, for I would have to pay a fine_

---

_For My Lavender…_

_---_

Lavender speed-walked to catch up with her friends. Unlike when she'd earlier walked through town, there was no-one there! Instead, there was a haunting sound of music. The town seemed dead. "Where is everyone?" she asked while running up to Hailey.

"They're all there already; besides, the stores usually close down at 6 pm anyway." They continued to walk in complete silence. Lavender at this time was getting creeped out, she kept feeling chills run down her spine, the air was crisp and seemed to grate on her throat as she breathed.

Finally, she snapped, "Did you guys hear that?" she asked both of her companions, who looked at her oddly, "It sounded like a song." Ava laughed.

"Duh silly! The Banquet's right ahead!" she still couldn't shake the constant current of chills, _Maybe I'm just… cold?_ She thought silently to herself, pulling the wooly-fur coat tighter around herself, it offered only minimal relief.

"_Call up your friends, dilly, dilly__,"_ Lavender began singing to calm her erupting nerves_, "__Set them to work."_

"Wow Lave'! You've got quite the voice there!" Ava praised out of the blue, "Go on, and continue!"

Lavender nodded bashfully and continued with the tune, "_Some to the plough, dilly, dilly.__Some to the fork," _she breathed in the air she thought necessary before continuing, "_Some__ to the hay, dilly, dilly. Some to thresh corn__."_ She stopped because she couldn't remember the rest of the words, "some to the hay, dilly, dilly. Some to thresh corn…," she angrily muttered under her breath, "what comes next…."

"_While you and I, dilly, dilly, keep ourselves warm."_

_

* * *

  
_

Ray couldn't believe his ears. Maybe he'd just imagined it. He ducked his head down and after a troubling three minutes, looked up to see Max gazing out to nowhere. "Um… Enough about Alicia! I want to know more about someone else." Max snapped out of his trance.

"Who?" he asked, seeming eager to help.

Short rasping cough-like breaths escaped Rays' mouth, "You see, in the dream there was also a man. He said he was my father and I almost believed him." Ray said quietly. Max thought deeply.

"What did he look like?"

"Well," Ray started, "he looked like me except his hair was longer and reddish. His eyes looked like slits so I can't tell you what color they were. He also had a bit of hair around his chin."

"Ol' Goatey!" Max yelled before bursting into a fit of laughter. Ray waited for him to stop but he kept going. Eventually he fell off the dock, startling an unsuspecting Ray.

"Max?" he called when he didn't come back up, "Max, get back up here!" he saw the bubbles made by Max's laughter slowly float up, they kept diminishing until there were next to none left. "MAX!" he yelled and jumped in after him.

A few seconds later they resurfaced. "Call," Max coughed violently and started to shake just as hard, "Natalie." He gasped and suddenly stopped moving completely. Ray saw Barrett in the distance.

"BARRETT, CALL MY MOTHER!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, startling Barrett and causing season old Leonel to cry. Someone apparently was nearby and had heard Rays cry for his mother _(I know, sounds real manly don't it? XD)_ and obliged.

"Ray?" Natalie asked to the wind. A split second later and she was on the edge of the dock, "Grab on son!" Ray stuck out his arm but stopped halfway, those words sounded so familiar…, "RAY!" his mothers calls snapped him back to reality. He felt something tug viciously at his leg, "Do it now Ray!" he thrust his arm forwards, missing hers by inches, "RAY!" he heard his mothers shrieks one last time before being pulled underwater.

When under he saw a root like hand attached to his boot. He tried to kick away from it and didn't notice another come by and swack* the leg the previous arm was clutching. He felt pain surge through his body and let out a cry of pain. But of course, since he was underwater, all that did was release the air stored in his mouth.

The arm pulled the two boys down further. Ray, now only half-conscious, looked down to see his best friend, still passed out, then looked up at the watery image of his mother. He felt a warm sensation run through his spine, then exit out his toes. With his last mindful breath, he watched Max float deeper into the depths of the ocean and felt more failure than he'd ever felt in his life.

* * *

Lavender jumped at the male sounding voice. "Hello ladies." The older male said politely. He had wavy pinkish- red hair that came to an abrupt stop at the middle of his back and his squinty eyes were a blood shot and looming red. Ava curtseyed uneasily and Hailey attempted to wave hello, though her face showed pure contempt. "What are you doing so far out at this time of night?" it was only about 8 pm.

"We're off to the banquet sir." The words poured out of Ava's mouth on top of each other.

"Oh yes! The banquet!" he glared at Ava and Hailey, "You two should get there quick." Ava backed up slightly and Hailey crouched into fighting pose. "No need to worry children, you just get on your way and me and Little Lavender here will have a small… talk." Hailey calmed down minimally and shot Lavender a sideways glance. Lavender nodded and looked at Ava, who'd lost all facial color and was trembling. Hailey took Ava's hand and led her away from them.

"Who are you?" Lavender asked the middle aged gent, who laughed heartily.

"I'm known only as Tenetsu*," those squinty eyes of his seemed fixated on Lavenders' every feature, "tell me. How well can you fight?" he said once he'd stopped circling her.

"Only a little," Lavender admitted reluctantly, "Why?"

"You see my dear; you are in grave danger around here. Unlike most towns, the monsters here aren't afraid of civilization; they can come and go at will." Tenetsu began.

"What does that have to do with my fighting skill?" Lavender asked cautiously, making Tenetsu laugh even harder.

"I think that with a little training, you might be able to stop the monsters from entering town!" Lavender felt something bad about this, her back started to vibrate uncontrollably. "If any of the other villagers did it, the monsters would just reappear later." The vibrations began to be extremely uncomfortable. "Think about Lavender! Think about it!" he grabbed her head in his hands and pushed her to a building, presumably the carpentry store. Lavender began to sweat profusely and when she started to believe that she wasn't going to escape, the door to the carpenters shop flew open and out stumbled Torin.

"Tristan, we're gonna be late!" he yelled as he moved sweaty greenish blue locks from his face, receiving a '_shut your bloody mouth!'_ from inside. He looked towards the other side and saw Lavender pressed against the wall. "Oi Lavender, you okay?" she cast one pitiful glance at him and collapsed.

Torin ran to reach Lavender before her head met pavement. Two little boys came running out from the house, "I mean it! She was all like _SWOOSH_ and the monster disappeared! Honest!" The boys stopped at the door. One of them with icy- blue hair looked at the fallen Lavender.

"I don't think she's gonna go '_swoosh'_ anymore Cobi," the boy who had been addressed as Cobi's eyes started to water and his features began to scrunch.

"No, no Cobi. Don't cry!" Torin said in an effort to calm the boy down, he didn't realize that his own eyes were beginning to water, "D-d-don't cry! Whatever you do don't _BWAAAAAAAHH!"_ he started to bawl at the same time as Cobi did. "_WAAAAAAHH!"_ they cried heavily and in sync, "_Aiden, go call Tristan, Now!"_ Torin managed to choke out in sobs; Aiden had already gone long before and had come back. With him came an annoyed looking young man.

"What the Grimiore is wrong with you?" the other boy, Tristan, yelled whilst smacking Torins cheeks mercilessly, "How in the world are you able to make a girl faint while both you AND Cobi are crying?" the smacking ensued until Tristan finally turned away from Torin, whose poor, fragile, porcelain cheeks were red and looked close to bleeding. He then proceeded to envelope Cobi in a tight hug, though by this time he was fine, for he had started laughing around the 60th slap. The little blonde wiped away his tears and pointed towards the banquet.

"Aiden ran to get Cherri and Nami!" he reported happily. Tristan ruffled his hair.

"That's my little spy!" he said gleefully. He glared at his twitching younger brother and carried Lavenders lifeless body away from his lap. Cobi held on to a piece of Tristan's clothing, startling the male, "What is it little one?"

"When Cherri and Nami come 'Vender and you won't be here…," he said in a small voice.

Tristan smirked, "don't worry. They know I'd do something like this, they'll be ready for it." Cobi nodded with false understanding, "As for now, make sure my idiot brother wakes up. Okay?" Cobi grinned and nodded even more furiously.

"Make sure idiot wakes up! Got it!" Tristan nodded bye and jumped away with the girl in his arms *. _I really should watch what I tell that kid…_

_

* * *

  
_

Ray opened his eyes slowly. Surrounding him was a bright and warm light. It reached every part of his body and filled him with happiness. He opened his eyes completely but kept an arm slightly above them.

"Hello Orchis," Ray heard a gentle, but male (_Darn!)_ voice call to him, "Well, won't you come?" A figure came closer to him and he saw it was the one from his dream, complete with 'Ol' Goatey' as Max had put it. Ray jumped back and screamed, expecting to hear a sound. Instead, all that came out was a loud of bubbles. Ray clamped his hands over his mouth but noticed that the burning sensation in his chest was gone.

"Yes. This means you aren't dead." The man walked away and as he did, Ray noticed a mature pair of wings. They looked thin, like paper, but were clear and shimmered like they were made from silk. "You seem impressed. Take a look at your own." Ray looked backwards and saw an identical set of glowing flutter devices. _The Grimiore?_

"Enough about that. Do you know where you are Orchis?" for some reason, Ray knew he was talking to him. And it wasn't only because he was the only other one in the room. "Orchis, we haven't much time. I need you to listen very closely." Ray nodded, the fear he had for this man seemed to have gone away. "You don't remember me, but I played a vital role in your life. Now you need to take over that role." Ray was still puzzled.

"Alvarna. Your Mother. Alicia. They all need protecting." Ray almost laughed. Protecting Alvarna was more down Kyle's road, and Alicia was dead. She didn't need protecting. The other man wasn't laughing. "Orchis, I mean it. If you screw this up," he seemed like he didn't want to even fathom the possibility. "I'm going to send you back now." Ray looked around, the room was now transparent and the space surrounding him started to decrease, "Be strong Orchis! Be strong!" he felt his body float up and towards the surface. For some reason, he didn't want to go.

There was another bright flash and Ray could faintly here someone speaking in a foreign tongue, in fact, _two _foreign tongues. He could only understand minimal parts of it. _Casteź Amar Spiritos, _Castaway Spirits, _Refrune Yora Muster! _Return to your master, _Tenetsu Damona Roma sef Faritos_, Tenetsu Demon Ruler of Faeries. Fairy tongue? Why fairies tongue? The language had been forbidden in Alvarna. _Source Laser!_

Water Laser? What would- Rays mouth opened wide and all the extra water in his body was expelled in one blast. Kyle smirked uneasily and fell to his knees, "By Rune Ray! If you ever do that again, I may have to kill you." Ray tried laughing but all that came out was a quiet wheeze.

After Natalie did a quick check on him, she found that the Water Laser had done some damage to his voice box. "Where's Rosalind?" he asked, though it came out as 'wheeze, whe, whe wheeze?'

"Rosalind's downstairs," Kyle answered with a shrug. Natalie looked at him oddly, "What? Compared to Wooly, this is child's play." Natalie nodded unsurely. "All they ever do is 'Baa' this and 'Baaa' that! Sometimes I wish they'd just go Baa, baa themselves!" Kyle covered his mouth, "Pardon my Mutton." He said gaily.

Ray shook his head and walked down the stairs to the extra room. He felt a lot heavier than before and everything seemed to be darker. He stood at the doorway and looked in. Rosalind was slouched over a giant orb, which he assumed held Max. "Rosalind?" but this time, all that came out was _'whee- wheezer?_ Rosalind turned around and shrieked.

* * *

Lavender woke up to see Naomi brewing together a strange smelling tonic. She was singing a lonely song to herself, "_My lovely brings rosies, and pansies and posies, My lovely brings rosies though he draws not nigh,"_ a part of Lavender recalled the song from a previous part of her life, _" His soul burns with fire, he'll swim through the mire. My lovely, he'll do that for me!"_ her song continued happily, _"And after the dancing, we'll run and go prancing. My lovely he will marry me!"_ Naomi peeked into Lavenders room briefly before running off to something else. Lavender could faintly hear the opening of a window not too far away.

"Hello My Lovely," she heard a male voice coo sweetly.

"Don't be so loud!" Naomi sounded anxious and mother-like, "I've got a patient right now!"

"And I'm not a patient?" Lavender lay back onto her bed as a man with glossy reddish pink hair leaped onto the tonic stained wood countertop. He held Naomi's stethoscope very close to his heart and swayed woozily, "Dearest Doctor, I'm afraid I feel faint," he flicked his wrist towards his head, as if taking his temperature. "I may have come down with something while on my very, very many travels."

Naomi appeared next to him and pressed her hand against his forehead, "I'm afraid you are!" the man faked disdain.

"What is it doc? How long do I got to live?"

"I'm afraid your hebetudinous. And it's practically incurable," the man laughed optimistically, "Adamo, you'd better get going." The man stood up quietly and wrapped his medium sized arms around Naomi's petit waist.

"One day I'll get us married," he said while kissing her forehead through her sideways bangs, "will you wait, My Lovely?" Naomi squeezed him tightly and nodded with her head in his chest. They stayed like that for many minutes until there was a sound of a door opening and closing and the call _'Sorry I'm Late Naomi! Cobi needed extra help today' _drifted up the stairs. Mere seconds later, Cherub came trumpeting up the stairs.

"And here's some medicine for if you feel a bit drowsy later on- Oh, hello Cherub!" Naomi greeted happily while handing medicine to Adamo, "Don't worry, I'll let you slide. This time." Lavender believed this might be a good time to 'wake up'. She stretched out her hands and walked towards the front of her current room. "Oh. Good morning Lavender." And before one could blink, Roy came out from another room with a scowl on his face.

"Honestly, why are you people up here?" He saw Lavender through the corner of his eye and turned away, "I'm getting ready." He announced, though no one was sure who to.

The following silence caused them to shift uncomfortably, "Hey Lavender, could you open the store today?" asked Cherub hopefully, "There're a few things I want to pick up."

* * *

Ray grabbed Rosalind's shoulders, "what's wrong Rosalind?" but alas, all that she heard was a semi- threatening _'WHHEEEEZZEE!'_ Rosalind screeched even louder, causing Ray to sweat drop and face palm himself. _'Sorry Rosalind…'_ he said mentally before pressure pointing her, causing her to fall limp in his arms. He breathed heavily and lay her down on the nearby bed.

"That might be why…"behind him was Kyle, who looked rather content with himself. Ray looked away from Kyle, "Hey… Have you looked in a mirror at all?" he tried to seem kind, but was failing.

"_Course not! I just woke up."_(A/N: I just realized how useless it is to translate his wheezing all the time.) Kyle nodded semi-wisely and answered 'You might want to get on that…' before walking out of the clinic. Ray was less than enthusiastic to see a mirror after Kyle's comment. It wasn't until his mother came downstairs and screamed 'No! Why Ray? WHY?' and broke down crying that he did.

_Chappie 5_

_Does that be long enough for youses? Jk's XD. _

_And on the note of 'the fruitcake do you have against Max!?' from fan-girls, I have nothing against Max… _

_Authors top5 favourite characters to write about:_

_Tenetsu (such a creep… I love him)_

_Tristan (such an abusive brother X-D)_

_Lavender (not Alicia, Lavender. But both fun to write about)_

_Ray (my little detective)_

_And finally (drum roll)_

_Cobi ('idiot wakes up')_

_*1: A combo of swat and smack = swack._

_*2: Teen- Etsu or Ten-Etsu, you can pick._

_*3: Kross style jumping skill XD (rune factory frontier)_

_Who's your fave character so far? Leave a review and an OC suggestion. :)_


	7. Chapter 6: The Real Threat

Chapter 6: Love-Dove moments and Magical Potent… (Tial)

_Disclaimer__: Still don't own Rune Factory… -_-'… I might start working for Natsume one day though…. one can dream ^O^_

'_No! Why Ray? WHY?'_

"Hailey, could you hand me that thing over there?" Hailey nodded and reached over to a small table near the front of the store. The General Store had been renamed 'Lockett Shoppe' and now earned about 10000G on a bad week. Anyway, Hailey swiped a black stone from the table.

"An onyx? Where'd you find it?" she asked, with a hint of astonishment in her voice. Lavender shrugged, meaning 'the usual'. They heard a tinkling sound from outside. "Better boot. Brent's gonna hound me if I'm late one more time," she playfully scrunched her face to resemble his scowl, "Hailey! I will eat you because you were late! Rwlrwlrwl*!"

Lavender waved bye to her friend as she exited in a rush. Simultaneously, Adamo walked in, barely avoiding Hailey on her exit. "Slow down!" he cautioned. He averted his attention to Lavender, who had come off her stool and was smoothing out her 'work clothes'. "Good day M'lady," he said with a bow. Lavender curtseyed in return and joined in his fun.

He dug into his knap sack and produced a small green envelope. "From Mr. Alex at the Mayor's house." Lavender snatched up the letter, leaving a hundred gold in return as she usually did, "See ya soon M'lady!" And with that, Adamo scampered out the door, his letter pouch dragging behind him. If she had anymore mail it would be delivered to the mailbox at her farm, 'The Guna' which she was pretty sure meant 'The Goon' or something like that.

She opened up the letter and read aloud:

_Dear Lavender:_

_Meet me at the entrance to the Beluum Hills A.S.A.P. _

_Alex_

_P.S. It has something to do with magic._

When she arrived, she found him perched on a long rock at the entrance. "Lavvy!" he cried cheerfully while childishly brushing stray orange hairs away from his big baby blue eyes. Lavender waved back shyly. "Anyway. Let's get down to business." Lavender nodded in anticipation. "Many may know I am a master of magic."_ How modest of him_, Lavender mentally mocked him and pictured him in a dress… which wasn't too bad considering… "Lave. Lave? LAVE?"

"YES YOU'D LOOK GOOD IN A BLUE DRESS!" blushing shortly afterwards, Alex heaved a long sigh. Then he looked at her forgivingly.

"It's okay Lave. We'll do this another time." Lavender looked solemnly at her saddened friend, "In the meantime, I want you to use these." Alex handed her two green hardcover books entitled health and flee. "These are magic books. Using magic costs rune and if you run out of rune, then you start using health." Alex seemed to blush, "So- you be careful out there? Kay?" she didn't respond for a few moments but stared adoringly- or at least he thought. "Lave? LAVENDER!"

"PURPLE WOULD LOOK NICE TOO!" Alex sighed and bitterly muttered 'You're hopeless' under his breath. He looked around at the large jade sundial at the entrance. There was one at every entrance and near the ends too. "Oh, sorry Al, I gotta get back to the store!"

Alex sighed with partial relief, "Don't worry, we'll try again later," he waved at her with his long fair fox tails before stumbling ungracefully out of the entrance.

* * *

"There you go Cammy!" Ray said as the little girl jumped off the table, "Thanks for being a big girl while I got that cleaned up. Would you like a treat?" Cammy squeaked with delight, causing her large pink ponytails to jiggle with life, "Okay then! Have Rosalind make you some Hot Milk." Cammy sprinted contently up the stairs. Once she was out of sight, Ray breathed a sigh of relief and snapped off the black band surrounding his wrist.

Almost instantly the skin discolored and turned a murky purple. His nails grew long and black, resembling a females', the purple traveled through the rest of his body till he was completely consumed. His eyes tingled as his blue irises took over the white. He opened them at the very end when a white light flashed out of them, completing the transformation.

"RAY!" he heard his name called, it was way too close for him to snap the brace back on. He let the voice near him because in this form he couldn't speak in English "RAY! COME MEET YAKUTA!" a yakuta was a form of clothing, why did Yue want him to meet clothing item? He walked unsteadily out to the main, relying on the counter for support as his feet had grown twice their normal size.

The man had shiny black hair and eyes of amethyst. He wore a long unbuttoned vest like thing over large, poofy pants that tied at the bottom. He bowed down low and murmured something that Ray could understand alone, _Hello,_ but it was in demon tongue. He didn't smile but stood stone faced, making Ray feel uncomfortable. Yue noticed this and whispered something into one of his pierced ears. He immediately broke into a smile.

"Thank Rune!" he heaved a long sigh, "My name's Yakuta. I'm a traveling merchant," how surprising, "But my costumers are mostly of the magical aspect. I met a demon once… such bad tempers… such fine gold…" his eyes shone and his mouth quivered with want.

Ray tried smiling but another downside to this form, he didn't have a mouth. "Yaku-kun is going to take me to one of his more popular towns!" Ray was honestly happy for Yue but he couldn't show it in any way.

Yakuta looked at the sky. A raven flew overhead with a yellow cloth tied round its neck, "Yue-chan, we need to get going if we're going to get to the port on time." Yue pouted unhappily,

"Fine Yaku-kun, we'll leave real soon. Bye Ray!"

Boy was that man in for a lot.

* * *

Lavender tilled at the fields in the back of her home, taking extra care on her favorite crops, the strawberries. As for the spinach, she couldn't care less, but Torin insisted on giving her cheaper prices if she traded them with him though… what kind of saleswoman would she be if she gave up that opportunity? She only needed to harvest this bunch for little Cobi's request. Apparently Tristan had a love of them.

_Just a few more..._ tug, tug,_ oh dear-_ she fell flat on her bum as she tugged once more with all her might. _Owie…_ she was going to rub it to sooth the ache if it wasn't for the sadistic chuckle that followed. She turned towards the laugh with her face burning and saw it was Brent. _What the rune was he doing there?_ Normal guys would've offered to help her up if they were in his position, but since he was Brent, he just stood and chuckled.

He gradually walked over to her hoe which was protruding erect from the ground. "Where'd you find this piece of work?" he asked, running dark nails over it. "Practically useless in the state it's in." he looked as if he were weighing something. Was this how he treated every thing he worked on? he looked at it intensely, swinging it here and there and eventually sticking it back into the ground where it'd come from. "Get me some bronze and iron and I'll fix it up for you." Was… Brent… being… nice?

He'd apparently seen her wondering gaze and his typical glare returned to his pale face, "This changes nothing." What was there to change? "Get it to me soon or else I'll change my mind." there was a long silence as Lavender struggled to regain her footing. She had both items in her rucksack and just needed to bring them out to finish his request. Momentarily she'd produced both items and held them happily for him. He looked surprised; a strange look compared to the uge and took both items.

"It's an easy fix; shouldn't even take half a days work…," he picked the hoe up without any effort and slung it over his shoulder. "By the way…" he added so casually that Lavender had to do a double take to make sure he was talking to her, "Have you seen Hailey?"

The question was answered by a startled, "ORCSSHIT IT'S BRENT!" followed by a wondering, "Why isn't he at work?" Brent's dark pointed eyebrows twitched with annoyance and he yelled in an almost playful voice,

"Hailey, get your butt back to work right now!" but of course, he's Brent and he can't be playful. He walked away without saying so much as bye. He only left one thing, and that was the question that plagued Lavender's mind. _How am I supposed to till without a hoe?_

_ILIL_

Ava's Grandmother smiled at Lavender with her archaic eyes crunching at the sides. She leaned in on the counter and smiled cheekily, _"So Lavely,"_ one of the many nicknames she'd been dubbed with, _"Have you thought of a husband yet?"_ Lavender didn't hear the question and asked for a repetition. "There're many nice men in this town Lavely. You need to pick one of them."

Need? No. Lavender hadn't even _thought_ of it yet. There was so much she hadn't done! The old woman probably wouldn't hear any of it, so she shrugged bashfully,_ "Not completely… there're so many choices… they're all so nice…"_ Ava's grandmother cocked an eyebrow, suspecting she wasn't being completely truthful with her. She was about to say something more if it wasn't for the tinkling of a bell.

"GRANDMA!" Ava barged in with her face and hair wetter than a spring pond. She sat on a large bench and crossed her arms in annoyance, "Look at what he did!" by 'he' she meant who exactly?

That question was answered when a tanned boy with golden eyes came rushing in with another concoction "don't worry M'dear! This'll have you all dried up in no time at all!" he didn't see a sphere roll out into his path until it was too late. The veil went flying with the cover off. "orcsshit." he cursed bitterly under his breath as it came down on Ava's black curls with a purple smoke cloud and a loud thump. "Um… Dearest, I think I'll be outside… somewhere… Tenetsu is calling!" with that he dashed off, leaving behind a set of satin gloves.

Ava gasped and coughed, waving away the foul smelling cloud, "What the Grimiore did he do to me this time?" she honestly wouldn't like to know. Her usually obsidian colored hair was now a pleasant indigo, Ava's most hated color. "I hate him! I HATE him! I HATE HIM!" she repeated this several times as she gazed into Lavender's display mirror. She fingered at it as if were infected, shuddering in fright. The tears were evident in her emerald eyes, she loved her hair more than anything and now this had to happen. "I'll _KILL_ Jason the next time he tries anything like that on Me." she went back to her pouting.

The tortured bell rung one more time. In walked Torin with a piece of parchment in his arms. He held it close to him and looked at Lavender queerly, as if she were a thief trying to take it. He took one look at Ava and his eyes glittered like a prize diamond, "Ava! Your hair has given me a new idea! Thank you for your individuality!" he shook his head and turned his attention back to Lavender just quick enough to not notice Ava's face become as red as a strawberry. "Lavely! Look what I got!" he stopped and motioned for her to come closer, "its top secret… you'd better not show anyone..." he looked around again and slowly slid the paper across the counter.

It was a picture of a boy with girly purple hair. His sapphire eyes looked sleepy but intelligent. "What's this for?"

Torin smacked his palm on his face, "Since you can't remember anything, I got this picture for you! It took all last week, but I finally got enough information to draw him, then even more to paint it in!" he had the joy of a young child. "His name's Ray. He's supposed to be your brother!" Lavender was overjoyed, but there was still a part of her that took hold and told her not believe all of it. Torin saw her pained expression and his face dropped to match it. He began putting it away, "I'm not completely sure but…"

Lavender's hand jotted out and stopped his in its tracks, "Please?" he let go, "thank you." She looked up and smiled brightly. His face followed suit and bended into a coy grin. He skipped out of the store happily and didn't look back.

* * *

Ray hadn't had any trouble sleeping since the Max incident. It was strange, but that goat man had calmed him down completely… He laid his head on a swan feather stuffed pillow at the end of the day, looking idly up to nowhere. _Orchis… Orchis… Come Orchis…_ he obliged and fell asleep straight away.

"_Orchis! It seems you inherited your mothers demon side!"_ the goat man was either really good at hiding his annoyance or was genuinely happy. _"It does get boring in here…"_ Ray was a bit shocked; he thought he'd wanted to train him or something.

"Why did you say Alvarna was in danger?" He still didn't get it. Aside from the Max attack and the Cloud incident there was nothing out of the ordinary. The mood suddenly tensed and the room turned darker than midnight before his eyes. Like blood in water it spread feverishly. "Where am I?" he heard a cracking noise as a flaming red Dragon came into view and it took all Ray had not to hide behind a stone. It staggered and limped, falling on a wall of the darkness. Its bloodshot eyes closed in an attempt at sleeping.

"_That's your enemy Orchis,_" Ray was steadily warming up to the idea of fighting a pathetic, old, Grimiore such as this one. Even he could win against it! _"Do not be fooled by his exterior. You are not to defeat him, Alicia is."_ Alicia was DEAD. How many times did he need to go over it to Goat Man? It was plain as day. Plainer even!_ "Your duty is to defend Alvarna against him."_ Of course, give him the hard one. The GM must have been amused by Ray's objections because his mirthful laughter echoed in Ray's ears. _"Do not kid with me. His name is Tenetsu. He wishes to be freed of his prison on this world and the only way to do so is to be defeated."_ then lose. There were too many easy fix problems, _"My punishment is to remain in this realm till that is accomplished."_ the scenery changed once more. The calmed skies contrasted dancing blades of green beneath them.

"Where are we?" Ray saw many monsters running freely in uncharacteristic ways. Silver wolves were playing tag with orcs; wooly's were getting their fur conditioned by faeries and more. "Is this," it struck him like a bullet, "The First Forest?" GM nodded with youthfulness practically pouring off him. He looked around, walking towards the monsters and being surprised when they didn't try to attack him.

"_Orchis, they won't attack you here. It's mutual territory. None of them are scared."_ sounded like something he'd heard Cecilia say once,_ "Monsters only attack when they feel threatened or infringed."_ That sounded more like a 'Kyle' thing. GM's smile faded as they heard a warping sound. _"Here is the reason I brought you here."_ A black hole ripped into the middle of the field, drawing many of the monsters into its depths. _"Tenetsu is losing control of his powers. There will be demons that will come and stop anyone who will alert Alicia,"_ WHO WAS DEAD, _"so she won't help him stop it."_

This was wrong. This was horrible! This was why he needed Ray.

"_Earthmate magic will only do so much damage against actual magical creatures."_ the scenery faded back to real life, _"By the way; I'd make sure you have extra feed."_

_Chappie 6_

_Chapter Six peoples! I'm seriously starting to doubt if anyone actually reads all of this, it was tedious for me to read over…. and I'm the one who wrote it!_

_*this is property of the 'I am Murloc' song from YouTube. I AM MURLOC!_

_Kay Guys, so you know where Lavender/Alicia (whatever you've been calling her) is with the villagers so far, here's a little thingy! _

Brent: 3 LP, 2 FP

Alex: 2 LP, 3 FP

Torin: 4 LP, 4 FP

Hailey: 4 FP, 3 BFP *best friend points*

Ava: 4 FP, 3 BFP

Grandma: 3 FP

Adamo: 3 FP

_Next one in: Two chapters. The fave character thing will be next chappie XD (there was absolutely no point in that…)_

_Also, Torin is gonna be hitched to Nadia in six more chappies. If you want to save him, you will have to vote 'no'. If you don't know who Torin is see this chapter and chapters 4 and 5 (mostly five because four is a bit tedious)_


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